Dance Marketing

Using Disney to attract new dance students

A great way to attract new dance students to your classes is to use current trends and popular TV shows or movies. Disney is great at producing programs that children love, and lots of times those programs contain catchy music and fun choreography. Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, Shake it Up and other programs have all featured dance routines in the past. What’s great about Disney is they re-run the programs over and over, and do special dance commercials, so the kids see the moves frequently. Many would love to learn the choreography. Here are some ways to use Disney programs to draw new students in to your classes.

1. Host a dance workshop or special clinic for kids to learn a routine from one of the Disney shows. This may draw in kids that normally wouldn’t sign up for a year of classes but maybe just want to try some dancing. You can learn the routine from the program by watching it (YouTube is great for this) or you could simply use the same song and choreograph your own routine.

2. Advertise that you are learning a Disney routine in your regular classes. If you have a sign outside your facility or regular print advertising, include mention of the routine. Something like, “This week we’re learning dance moves from ‘Shake it Up’” will get their attention. You can also post it on your website calendar, email newsletter, Facebook and Twitter.

3. Post a YouTube video of the class doing the routine. Make sure to include keywords in the description of the video that identify your business and your location so that someone looking for dance classes in your town may come across the video and be inspired.

4. Take photos of the workshop or class doing the routine and post them online (with permission). Tag your students in the photos if they are on Facebook so the photos show up in other people’s Facebook newsfeeds. Make sure you put your business name and contact info in the photo description in case someone wants to contact you for more information.

5. Visit a school or group such as the Girl Scouts or school PTO and teach the group the Disney dance. This could even be done as a fundraiser for the group. Make sure you have information about your business to hand out to the attendees if they are interested.

6. Offer Disney-themed Dance Birthday parties. If you have the space available offer to do dance parties where you teach the dance and then have some free time for the dancers to play, open gifts, eat cake, etc.

Using Disney and other popular programs that reach your target market is a great way to connect with new students. Hope some of these ideas inspire you to reach out!